Swiggy to expand operations, add hyperlocal grocery delivery: Report

Food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy is reportedly diversifying its hyperlocal delivery segment by adding groceries and medicines, reports The Economic Times. According to ET the new service will be called ‘Dash’, and is expected to start its pilot operations in next few months.

The service apparently aims to utilise its delivery workforce of 30,000 people especially between 2 pm to 6 pm, which are usually lean hours.

In a statement shared with MediaNama, Swiggy’s neither denied not shared any details on this development, as its spokesperson said that “at Swiggy, we’re continuously experimenting with ways in which we can enrich the lives of our consumers and partners by making it more convenient and hassle-free”.

Note that when in February, Swiggy raised Series F funding of US $100 million from its existing investor Naspers and a new investor Meituan-Dianping, China’s service e-commerce platform, it had said that it will use the capital to strengthen its technology and introduce new products and services.

The strategy of food delivery company diversifying its delivery categories to optimize delivery network is a global phenomenon. A day before, US-based online food delivery company DoorDash partnered with Walmart for grocery delivery.

Online Grocery delivery in India

Early this year, Amazon silently rolled out hyperlocal grocery delivery with the launch of NOW Store– on its online grocery platform Amazon Now. As part of Nowstore, Amazon delivers grocery like fresh vegetables and fruits, milk and other things from its partner neighbourhood stores of Amazon Now. The service is currently available in selected pin codes across four cities- Bangalore, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.

Flipkart is giving online grocery selling a second try with ‘Supermart’ in Bangalore. It had shut down its earlier service Flipkart Nearby in February 2016, nearly 5 months after its launch.

In a separate development, Online classified service Quikr is also experimenting online grocery business. However, Quickr’s spokesperson said that the company is experiment this and is still unsure whether it is going to enter online grocery space or not.